Panama National Football Team

Panama's footballing identity is built on three CONCACAF Gold Cup runners-up finishes (2005, 2013, 2023), a 2025 CONCACAF Nations League runners-up appearance, and the modern era's most consistently rising senior team within the regional confederation. The Federación Panameña de Fútbol was founded in 1937 and Panama spent most of its existence as a marginal CONCACAF presence. The 2018 World Cup, their first ever appearance, was the defining institutional moment of the federation's modern era. The 2-1 home win over Costa Rica at the Estadio Rommel Fernández on 10 October 2017 — Román Torres heading in the 87th-minute winner to secure Panama's first ever World Cup qualification — is now broadly understood as the most important match in the country's sporting history. President Juan Carlos Varela declared 11 October a public holiday across Panama in response; Torres was awarded the country's highest civilian honour and remains a national hero. Panama's debut tournament in Russia 2018 ended in three group-stage defeats, but the qualification itself was the achievement. Thomas Christiansen, the Spanish-Danish coach who has previously managed Leeds United and APOEL Nicosia, was appointed Panama head coach in 2020 and is now the longest-serving senior coach in Panamanian football history. Captain Aníbal Godoy of Nashville SC anchors the midfield. The squad combines Godoy with defender Michael Murillo (Marseille), midfielder Adalberto Carrasquilla (Houston Dynamo), striker José Fajardo (Independiente del Valle) and goalkeeper Luis Mejía (Independiente del Valle). The 2025 Nations League runners-up appearance — losing 1-0 to Mexico in the final in Inglewood — confirmed Panama's status as one of CONCACAF's emerging mid-tier sides.

Román Torres's header in the 87th minute against Costa Rica at the Estadio Rommel Fernández on 10 October 2017 — sealing Panama's first ever World Cup qualification with a 2-1 win on the final matchday of CONCACAF qualifying — remains the most consequential single moment in Panamanian sporting history. Torres was subsequently awarded the country's highest civilian honour; President Juan Carlos Varela declared the following day a public holiday across the country, the only time in Panamanian history that a single football result has triggered such a response. Felipe Baloy's 78th-minute goal against England at the Nizhny Novgorod Stadium on 24 June 2018 — converting an Adalberto Carrasquilla free-kick to make it 6-1 in a match Panama lost to a Harry Kane hat-trick — was the country's first ever World Cup goal. The Baloy strike came in Panama's second group-stage fixture and is now used in Panamanian footballing retrospectives as the moment the federation joined the global game's tournament history book, even in the context of a defeat. The 2-1 home defeat to Mexico in the CONCACAF Nations League final at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood on 23 March 2025 — Hirving Lozano scoring twice for Mexico after Cecilio Waterman had given Panama a 1-0 lead through the second half — was the closest Panama have come to a major regional title. The runners-up finish is the third Gold Cup-tier final defeat in Panama's modern history (after the 2005 and 2013 Gold Cup finals, both also lost), but the underlying performance was widely cited as evidence the team had become a genuine CONCACAF middle-tier contender under Christiansen.